Sands Casino wants to add 31 new table games

Saturday

Nov 17, 2012 at 12:01 AM

Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem wants to add 31 table games to its casino floor in an expansion that it says would create 107 new full-time jobs, according to an application filed with the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board.

NICK FALSONE

Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem wants to add 31 table games to its casino floor in an expansion that it says would create 107 new full-time jobs, according to an application filed with the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board.

The board scheduled a public hearing on the application 10 a.m. Tuesday at its Harrisburg offices.

Sands Bethlehem has been outperforming all other Pennsylvania casinos in table-game revenue this year. A gaming control board report issued Friday shows Sands Bethlehem had gross table game revenue in October of about $12.7 million, nearly a quarter of the $55.3 million in gross table game revenue at Pennsylvania's 11 casinos combined last month.

The Pennsylvania casino with the next highest gross table-game revenue in the same month was the Parx Casino, which is just outside of Philadelphia in southern Bucks County; it brought in about $8.3 million, the board's report says.

Sands Bethlehem also holds the record for the highest single month gross-revenue in table games. That mark was set in August when the casino earned about $14.1 million from table games.

Gaming board spokesman Richard McGarvey said table-game revenue could have been higher in October had Superstorm Sandy not hit the state at the end of the month.

McGarvey said Tuesday's hearing on Sands Bethlehem's proposed expansion will likely be followed by a gaming board vote on the proposal. If approved, Sands Bethlehem can proceed as planned, he said.

State officials will work with the casino to see that the expansion follows all regulations, the board spokesman said. Some of the regulations that are monitored include camera positioning and proper training of new employees, he said.

Sands Bethlehem spokeswoman Julia Corwin declined to give a timeline for the expansion, saying the casino does not comment on gaming board matters prior to the board hearing them.

"Everything will be unveiled Tuesday at 10 a.m.," she said.

The 31 new games would bring the casino's total to 183, according to an eight-page application filed with the gaming board last month.

The application says the casino floor would expand by about 2,600 square feet and 837 slot machines would be moved to accommodate the new table games.

Also according to the application, the expansion would create 107 new full-time jobs.

"The new jobs that will be created will include dealers, table game management, cage employees, security officers, marketing employees and surveillance personnel," the application says.

Roger Hudak, chairman of the Mayor's South Side Task Force in Bethlehem, said he sees no issue with the expansion of table games, especially if it creates jobs on land that once was home to the Bethlehem Steel Corp.

"The jobs are the most important thing," he said. "(The casino's) been adding jobs all along ... which is why I was always in favor of it."

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